Most website copy tries to speak to everyone, and ends up connecting with no one. If your site is busy but your enquiries are quiet, the problem usually is not how hard you are working. It is the words. The good news – writing copy that attracts the right clients is a skill you can learn, and it does not take a copywriter or a full redesign to start.
Write for One Person, Not Everyone
The fastest way to write copy that connects is to stop writing for everyone. When you try to appeal to every possible client, your message gets so broad it stops meaning anything. “We help businesses of all sizes reach their goals” could belong to literally any business.
Instead, picture one real client. The kind of person you do your best work with, the one you wish you had ten more of. Write as if you are talking to her across a table. In our work with women running service-based businesses, this single shift, from “everyone” to “her”, changes more than any clever tagline ever could.
The test: if your homepage could describe five other businesses in your industry, it is not specific enough yet.
Name the Problem in Your Client’s Words
Your ideal client does not describe her problem the way you do. You might call it “misaligned brand positioning.” She calls it “I don’t know how to explain what I do.” Lead with her words, not your industry ones.
This matters for two reasons. First, people feel understood when they see their own thoughts written back to them, and feeling understood is what builds trust. Second, the plain words your clients use are usually the exact phrases they type into Google, so writing in their language helps you get found as well as understood.
A simple way to gather this language: look back at your last few enquiry emails or discovery calls and note the actual phrases people used to describe what they needed. That list is gold. Put those words on your website.
Lead With the Result, Not the Process
People do not buy the process. They buy the result the process gives them. Yet most service business copy is a list of features: sessions, packages, methods, years of training.
Compare these two lines:
- Process-led: “I offer six-week coaching packages using a proven framework.”
- Result-led: “In six weeks, you will walk into a room and actually back yourself.”
Same offer. The second one speaks to what she actually wants. Name the transformation first, then explain how you deliver it. Clarity instead of confusion, confidence instead of doubt: that is what she is really shopping for.
Make the Next Step Obvious
Once someone reads your copy and thinks “yes, this is me,” she needs to know exactly what to do next. This is where good copy quietly loses people. Five different buttons, three phone numbers, a form buried on another page, and a vague “get in touch” is not a clear path.
Give her one obvious next step per page. If the goal is an enquiry, then “book a free discovery call” or “send me a message and tell me where you are stuck” should be the clear, repeated invitation. One path, stated plainly, beats five competing options every time.
A Quick Test Before You Publish
Before your copy goes live, read it out loud on your phone as if you were a first-time visitor. Ask yourself three questions:
- Would the right client know this is for her in the first few seconds?
- Does it use her words, or mine?
- Is the next step obvious?
If you stumble on any of the three, that is not a failure. It is the most useful edit you will make all week. Good website copy is rarely about sounding polished. It is about sounding like you, aimed clearly at her.
Where to Start
You do not have to rewrite your whole website this weekend. Pick your homepage, or the one page that matters most, and work through the four moves: write for one person, use her words, lead with the result, and make the next step obvious. That alone will do more for your enquiries than another month of posting.
If you would like a hand getting the words right, that is exactly what I do. And if getting found on Google is your biggest worry, my free guide on using your Google Business Profile to drive more traffic is a good, no-cost place to begin.
